How to grow a company?

We have agile experience and have debated on the benefits of pairing. But before you discard it away as another XP technique but this time in the perspective of an organization. How do you actually grow an organization? Let me tell you what I do and recommend.

I think of growth as organic and inorganic. Organically I want to hire people in a sustainable fashion based on the current needs of the organization. Some training and then paired with people on projects. Each employee trains one more, usually only one at a time unless an exception has to be made. Everyone from accountants, to developers to managers. This allows us to plan transitions and career growth. Some hires are reserves in the army to be deployed when needed and we have to budget for such reserves.

 

Inorganic growth can be described as driven through acquisitions or large scale hirings. We need a transition plan to bring them into the company along with the M&A corporate integration. Culture transition, practice transitions. But ideally they work from the first day and are integrated over time by cross pollination and pairing. Training as and when required.

Now if you see pairing in this light we would realise that it is one of the primary ways to grow a company and maintain the culture and capability.

Traditional Models Of Strategy

Seven Leading Historical Models of Strategy
1- The 3C’s
2- The 5 Forces
3- The 7S’s
4- The 3S’s “Single Shot Strategy”
5- The 8 Strategic Laws of Gravity
6- The 9S’s
7- The 7C’s

The 3C’s Model
1- Costs
2- Customers
3- Competitors

The 5 Forces Model
1- Entry of new competitors
2- Threat of substitutes
3- Bargaining power of buyers
4- Bargaining power of suppliers
5- Rivalry among existing competitors

The 7S’s Model
1- Strategy
2- Structure
3- Systems
4- Staff
5- Skills
6- Style
7- Shared values

The 3S’s “Single Shot Strategy” Model
(eg.’s)
1- Reengineering
2- Total quality management
3- Time to market
4- Target return on capital
5- Six Sigma

The 9S’s Model
1- Strategy
2- Structure
3- Systems
4- Style
5- Staff
6- Skills
7- Shared values
8- Steering pattern
9- Syndication

The 7C’s + Results Model
1- Costs
2- Customers
3- Competitors
4- Context
5- Capabilities
6- Channels
7- Capital
+
8- Results

The 8 Strategic Laws of Gravity Model
1- Correct business definition
2- Market control and leadership
3- Incremental share to the leader
4- Relative competitive position, performance, and investment
5- Declining costs and prices
6- Discouraging competitor investment
7- Industry value chain and profit pool
8- Organization investment

The traditional models of strategy 4C’s, 9S’s and other models and frameworks can invoke ideas and might also generate tactical plans but they seldom result in path breaking and revolutionary strategy.